NATION: Mass killings occur in USA once every two weeks

7:37 AM,
Dec. 19, 2012

About every two weeks in the U.S., four or more people die (not including the suspect) in a mass killing. Some get little media attention. Still, mass killings make up only about 1% of the roughly 15,000 people who are murdered in the U.S. each year. Research by Brad Heath and Meghan Hoyer Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Supplemental Homicide Report Note: The report has missing or incomplete data from the District of Columbia, 2006-2008; Florida, 2006-2010; and Nebraska, 2006-2008.

Written by

Meghan Hoyer and Brad Heath
USA TODAY

Mass killers target Americans once every two weeks on average, in attacks that range from robberies to horrific public shooting sprees like the massacre Friday of 27 people in Newtown, Conn., a USA TODAY examination found.

Using news accounts and FBI records from 2006 through 2010, the most recent years for which complete records were available, USA TODAY identified 156 murders that met the FBI definitions of mass killings, where four or more people were killed.

All told, the attacks killed 774 people, including at least 161 young children. ...